Tafweej strategy for Hajj 2016 unfurls slowly but surely

Source: Ministry of Haj & Umra, KSA. Workshop on tafweej.

A workshop on this year's 12-stage tafweej (التفويج) strategy has been held in Makkah under the supervision of HE Dr Mohammed Saleh bin Taher Bentin, the Minister of Haj and Umra by the KSA  Ministry of Haj & Umra on August 20 to increase the readiness of the ministry and establishments involved in the current Hajj season.

Tafweej refers to the logistics of moving large numbers of pilgrims from one place to another as part of the rituals of the Hajj, and the strategy has been completely revised as per HE Dr Bentin's instructions. All tafweej procedures have been overhauled, made consistent, and cover crowd management, modelling, and the treatment of statistical data.

Procedures include:
Tafweej schedule preparation
Communication of such schedules to agencies involved
Mapping Hajj pilgrims' exit and return routes;
Monitoring of establishments' performance to ensure they fulfil assigned tasks;
Holding defaulters answerable;
Monitoring crowd flow on different routes; and comparing the crowd flow with Tafweej projections.

New control mechanisms are in place for the teams concerned with overall management, gate monitoring, and route support; in order to fulfill the directions of Custodian of the Two Holy mosques, HRH the Crown Prince, and HRH the Deputy Crown Prince for facilitating all services for pilgrims from their arrival to the KSA, till their safe return to their countries.

The workshop was attended by various representatives from the Ministry of Haj and Umra as well as by chairmen and officials of the National Tawafa Establishment for Pilgrims of Turkey, and Muslims of Europe and Australia.

Dr Hussein bin Nasser Al-Sharif, the Ministry Undersecretary for Haj Affairs, stressed that the plans for the current Hajj season are based on a new vision. "For the best implementation of tafweej plans, the Ministry of Haj and Umra branch in Makkah performs many tasks: following up with tafweej schedules; confirming the presence of tafweej members and guides; preparing reports, and interim results; and submitting detailed reports on all violations, at the end of Hajj," he said.

Source: Ministry of Haj & Umra, KSA. Hajj pilgrims.

Workshops are part of phase two of the tafweej strategy, which covers awareness-building for execution plans, organisational constraints, and schedules. The ministry will continue to reach out to other Tawafa establishments and related agencies to ensure that there is awareness of the tafweej strategy this year.

Enhancements to the tafweej strategy include:

• Immediately implementing evaluation and performance indicators in the field
• Using the tools and technologies aimed at treating tafweej as an organised, seasonal activity and 
• Applying goals real-life constraints to tafweej schedules, such as crowd flow, routes, the necessity of adhering to schedules, the Hajj pilgrims' desires with respect to the Jamaraat ritual (stoning of the devil), locations of Haj pilgrims' camps and exits, schedule preparation times, and information from e-portals. 

In addition, the Tafweej Executive Committee also plans to utilise e-control systems and surveillance cameras to monitor crowd flow, to analyse the field data, and finetune tafweej practices accordingly this Hajj season. Other procedures in place include the immediate detection of violations through technologies and mobile apps; prompt reports of such detection to the ministry's servers; data analytics; identification of problems; and reporting of such issues to the ministry's control unit, tafweej teams, observation and followup committees, and operating tafweej units round the clock from the Hajj season till 15/1/1438, roughly 5 October 2016.

Source: Ministry of Haj & Umra, KSA. Hajj pilgrims on the move.

The Tafweej Executive Committee consists of the Public Security Department, Civil Defense, the Development Commission of Makkah Al Mukarramah and Mashaaer (DCOMM), The Ministry of Municipal and Rural Affairs (Holy Makkah Municipality), and The Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques Institute for Hajj and Umra.

The first phase included preparing the implementation plan for tafweej to the Jamaraat facility, and to the train stations at the holy sites:

• Establishing goals and constraints on preparing tafweej schedules to the Jamaraat facility, and to the holy sites train stations
• Crowd management plans drawn up for Mina.
• Adopting a method for schedule control at the Tawafa establishments, domestic Haj companies and related establishments; 
• Commissioning tafweej members and their support teams 
• Installing surveillance cameras and the e-control system to monitor routes, and to accept reports submitted by route leaders and field control units.

In the third and final phase of the strategy, the committee will supervise the accuracy of plan implementation, measuring performance levels, document procedures, and evaluate all stages of activity. A joint room of operations has been set up for critical decision-making in response to circumstances in the field and real-time feedback of the implementation, as well as for crisis management.